- Email: [email protected]
Mission-critical server suites for Windows NT
PRODUCT Company eradicate
NEWS
claims to millennium
bug
ith less than 500 days to go until the end of the century, computer users are still searching for a fail-safe solution to the millennium bug problem. Claims have been made that Y2000 RTC is the only preventative fix to the PC hardware millennium bug, addressing the Real Time Clock (RTC) directly, by synchronizing itself with the RTC via specially written, low-level routines. With Y2000 installed the clock will simply tick over to the Year 2000 and eradicate the need for a solution.
Ml
Currently, other products on the market address the problem through the Basic Input Output System (BIOS). However, the BIOS-based solution fix is ultimately flawed, claim the manufacturers of Y2000, because the bug needs to occur before it can be fixed. Apparently, this is even the case with new PCs being sold with BIOS patches. If any machine has a patch BIOS solution, whether installed by the manufacturer or by a software program containing a patch, then the machine will not roll over with the correct date if it is switched on during the date rollover. Also, if the computer is running an application and it addresses the RTC directly, bypassing the BIOS, it would then be retrieving the wrong date. BIOS-based solutions are not compatible with all PCs. Older machines’ BIOSs are not always upgradeable and the BIOS is not a date-generating device. Y2000 RTC is the only fix that addresses the RTC and stops the problem at the source.
Mission-critical server suites for Windows NT ewlettPackard has introduced a server suite that, claims the company, makes HP the first server vendor to offer a 99.9% uptime commitment for Intelbased servers running Windows NT. The new suite, HP Mission Critical Server Suite for Windows NT, is the first deliverable to be announced under the HP Mission Critical Server Suites for Unix system platforms, with a 99.9% uptime commitment.
H
The new HP Mission Critical Windows initiatives include the following: A 99.9% uptime commitment
NT Program
on a worldwide basis.
The Commitment will be available through HP Mission Critical Server Suite for Windows NT, which includes a clustered configuration of the HP NetServer LXr 8000 system, HP TopTools and HP OpenView/Manage X, and Windows NT Enterprise Server Edition. The program will include the creation of the HP Mission Critical Solutions Centre in Cupertino, California, USA, where HP and Microsoft engineers will develop and test hardware and software to maintain and improve end-to-end solutions. For further information, contact Sandra Key on: +44 1344 360000; E-mail: [email protected].
Forfurther information, contact Jackie Cooper PR on: +44 171287 7799; fax: +44 171287 4262.
Tamper-resistant
security
for E-business
Z
applications
ergo has launched Zergo Assure, a new cryptographic product designed to help systems integrators and OEMs reduce a development time when incorporating security into applications for electronic business. Designed to work in standard PCs, Zergo Assure comprises the DataSafe API software and the Zergo HSP 4000 highperformance cryptographic co-processor card. Together, they provide a wide range of cryptographic functions, based on industry standards, facilitating the design of many different secure systems. These functions include encryption and digital signatures essential for electronic business.
Computer Fraud & Security October 1998 3723/98/$19.00 0 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
NEWS
claims to millennium
bug
ith less than 500 days to go until the end of the century, computer users are still searching for a fail-safe solution to the millennium bug problem. Claims have been made that Y2000 RTC is the only preventative fix to the PC hardware millennium bug, addressing the Real Time Clock (RTC) directly, by synchronizing itself with the RTC via specially written, low-level routines. With Y2000 installed the clock will simply tick over to the Year 2000 and eradicate the need for a solution.
Ml
Currently, other products on the market address the problem through the Basic Input Output System (BIOS). However, the BIOS-based solution fix is ultimately flawed, claim the manufacturers of Y2000, because the bug needs to occur before it can be fixed. Apparently, this is even the case with new PCs being sold with BIOS patches. If any machine has a patch BIOS solution, whether installed by the manufacturer or by a software program containing a patch, then the machine will not roll over with the correct date if it is switched on during the date rollover. Also, if the computer is running an application and it addresses the RTC directly, bypassing the BIOS, it would then be retrieving the wrong date. BIOS-based solutions are not compatible with all PCs. Older machines’ BIOSs are not always upgradeable and the BIOS is not a date-generating device. Y2000 RTC is the only fix that addresses the RTC and stops the problem at the source.
Mission-critical server suites for Windows NT ewlettPackard has introduced a server suite that, claims the company, makes HP the first server vendor to offer a 99.9% uptime commitment for Intelbased servers running Windows NT. The new suite, HP Mission Critical Server Suite for Windows NT, is the first deliverable to be announced under the HP Mission Critical Server Suites for Unix system platforms, with a 99.9% uptime commitment.
H
The new HP Mission Critical Windows initiatives include the following: A 99.9% uptime commitment
NT Program
on a worldwide basis.
The Commitment will be available through HP Mission Critical Server Suite for Windows NT, which includes a clustered configuration of the HP NetServer LXr 8000 system, HP TopTools and HP OpenView/Manage X, and Windows NT Enterprise Server Edition. The program will include the creation of the HP Mission Critical Solutions Centre in Cupertino, California, USA, where HP and Microsoft engineers will develop and test hardware and software to maintain and improve end-to-end solutions. For further information, contact Sandra Key on: +44 1344 360000; E-mail: [email protected].
Forfurther information, contact Jackie Cooper PR on: +44 171287 7799; fax: +44 171287 4262.
Tamper-resistant
security
for E-business
Z
applications
ergo has launched Zergo Assure, a new cryptographic product designed to help systems integrators and OEMs reduce a development time when incorporating security into applications for electronic business. Designed to work in standard PCs, Zergo Assure comprises the DataSafe API software and the Zergo HSP 4000 highperformance cryptographic co-processor card. Together, they provide a wide range of cryptographic functions, based on industry standards, facilitating the design of many different secure systems. These functions include encryption and digital signatures essential for electronic business.
Computer Fraud & Security October 1998 3723/98/$19.00 0 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved